24 Aug Why Study Mary Baker Eddy in the Twenty-First Century?
The most recent annotation for this website is a good reminder for why scholars from a wide variety of academic fields ought to be aware of the contributions of Mary Baker Eddy. She, of course, is widely known for her innovative religious ideas and her establishment of a worldwide religious movement. But rarely has she been acknowledged for her innovations in other fields.
Eddy’s innovation in adult education
Gina Armer’s article, “Discovering New Trajectories in History: A 19th-Century Woman’s Practice of Adult Education” was published by the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education 2024 Conference Proceedings. She argues that Eddy’s establishment of a co-ed college “included many features found in modern Adult Education programs, decades before the field of Adult Education was identified in 1926” (7). Eddy’s system of education continues to be practiced today.
Armer recognizes that Eddy’s contributions in the field of adult education mark an important trajectory, as they are both significant and sustained. She suggests that Eddy’s work deserves to be incorporated into Education and Adult Education literature and that textbooks in other disciplines, such as Business and Women’s Studies, should be updated as well. As she points out, “Eddy’s system of education has directly resulted in entrepreneurial opportunities for teachers and practitioners of Christian Science of both genders to this day” (10).
Some examples of unique features of Eddy’s historical system of education through the Massachusetts Metaphysical College and their application to the field of adult education include:
- The college was established in 1881 by a woman, relying on her own financial resources.
- The college welcomed both men and women, and non-traditional aged students with prior life experiences.
- Students were required to demonstrate competency-based learning fulfilling a vocational level of practice.
- Many graduates changed their life trajectory through entrepreneurial ventures as founders of their own Institutes of instruction in Christian Science.
- The college established permanent lifelong mentoring relationship between teacher and pupil.
Eddy’s innovation in copyright law
Another example of Eddy’s innovative work outside the field of religion, but in support of her overall religious goals, is her copyright activism. In his chapter on “Authorship and Authority in Intellectual Property: The Copyright Activism of Mary Baker Eddy,” Andrew Ventimiglia argues that “Eddy demonstrated a savvy understanding of the power of intellectual property law to protect the economic and spiritual value of her writings, all while bolstering her own personal authority over a rapidly growing new American religion” (Copyrighting God: Ownership of the Sacred in American Religion, 115).
Ventimiglia points out that her concerns with copyright dovetailed with concurrent efforts to reform the copyright law of her day, and it brought her into strange consonance with erstwhile opponents, like Mark Twain. But it also resulted in the passage of the Copyright Act of 1909. Her work in copyright law, as in all her other innovations, arose out of necessity. One of her former students (Edward Arens) drifted away from the church and developed such antagonism toward Christian Science that he planned to pirate material from Eddy’s work and publish it under his own name. The ensuing egregiously plagiarized work prompted Eddy and her husband, Asa Eddy, to study copyright law and find their own defense.
Just as Armer noted the important trajectory for adult education, Ventimiglia appreciates the importance of the legal trajectory of Eddy’s contributions “not only because of the law’s central importance in securing Eddy’s authority within the church and in constructing a successful new American religion, but also because it speaks to broader issues related to the ethics—rather than the economics—of copyright law” (116-17).
Eddy’s innovation in journalism
Better known than the trajectories of adult education and copyright law is Eddy’s contribution to journalism. In his chapter, “Journalism to Heal the Nations,” Keith Collins traces Eddy’s life-long interest in writing and publishing, which always turned its focus toward uplift and healing. She wanted her first publication, The Christian Science Journal, to be “an independent family paper, to promote health and morals.” (Eddy’s words, quoted by Collins, The Christian Science Monitor: Its History, Mission, and People, 14.) The Journal is now a magazine, and the Monitor is now the newspaper, but her moral intent for both publications remained constant throughout her life.
In her mid-80s, Eddy faced one of the deepest challenges of her life. In 1906, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and then McClure’s Magazine pushed “exposés” on Christian Science, attacking Eddy personally and viciously, with falsities and sensationalism. Immediately following these attacks, a lawsuit was filed against her, claiming her loss of control of the church and that her fortune was controlled by others. The case finally collapsed when a Master of the court determined Eddy’s competence and continued authority over her affairs.
Many assumed that this horrific experience became the impetus for her to create The Christian Science Monitor, but Collins argues that she had not turned into a crusader for good journalism; she maintained her focus on the church, not the press. “What this incident told her was not just that the world needed better newspapers but that Christian Scientists needed to be bolder in their involvement with the world. … As usual, she had to lead the way” (28).
In January of 1908, when Eddy was 86, she wrote to her editor, McLellan, and publisher, Stewart, that “the time has come when we must have a daily paper entitled Christian Science Monitor. Allow no hesitation or delay on this movement. I will loan you all the money I can raise to help do it” (Eddy’s words, quoted by Collins, 29). The first issue rolled off the press on November 25, 1908.
Conclusion
Mary Baker Eddy’s contributions extend far beyond the familiar narrative of her as a religious innovator. Her pioneering work in adult education, her astute engagement with intellectual property law, and her strategic interventions in journalism position her as a figure whose influence traversed and still traverses multiple disciplinary domains. To situate Eddy within twenty-first century scholarship is not merely to recover an overlooked religious leader but to acknowledge a cultural actor whose initiatives anticipated and shaped trajectories in education, law, media, and religion alike. Incorporating her work into broader academic discourse enriches our understanding of the intersections between gender, authority, and institutional formation, and underscores the enduring significance of her intellectual and practical legacy.
The image of Mary Baker Eddy included in this post is based on a photograph by an unknown author available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division, under the digital ID cph.3a02009. Via Wikimedia Commons.